SECRET
جانیں
267
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SW1A 2AH
HKK040/5
RECEIVED IN REGISTRY
50 AUG 1983
DESK OFFICER
INDEX
A C Galworthy Esq PEKING
Dear Tony,
PA
REGISTRY
Action Taken
CMaila
HKK 040/5
26 August 1983
ANDORRA: POSSIBLE PRECEDENT FOR FUTURE OF HONG KONG
234
1. Thank you for your teleletter of 8 August. You will now have seen Eric Vines' letter of 17 August reporting the story in the Spanish National Daily ''El Pais'' of 15 August. This may bear out your suspicions about the real reason for Chinese interest in Andorra. They are obviously busying themselves in all directions.
2. I enclose, with a copy of their covering minute, a copy of the paper on Andorra which Research Department have prepared. Attractive though the concept of seigneurie en paréage may be, I do find it difficult to envisage the Chinese regarding Andorra as the perfect blueprint for Hong Kong's future. As you say, the sovereignty aspect would not appeal to them as they have ruled out the possibility of any joint sovereignty over Hong Kong. Moreover, such a proposal would have little to commend it to HMG.
3. From the scant information we have about China's thoughts on elections on Hong Kong, it is unlikely that these would be modelled on paragraph 5 of Research Department's paper. Paragraph 4 might, however, hint at China's scheme of things, describing as it does, a limited franchise and an effective right of veto on all ''important decisions''.
4. There would be a foreign relations precedent (paragraph 6 of Research Department's paper) in that China would almost certainly seek to represent Hong Kong internationally. Another interesting point arising from the Andorra model is that international treaties and conventions extend to the Principality only in certain prescribed circumstances. Moreover, in terms of international law, Andorra has no ''independent personality''.
Yours
cc: R P Margolis Esq, DPA Hong Kong
Mr Burrows, Legal Advisers
Mr Thomson, FED
Mr Walker, Research Department Miss Boreland, Research Dept
Dich
R D Clift
Hong Kong Department
SECRET